1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a light source apparatus for condensing light, emitted from a light source, onto an end surface of an optical fiber to lead it to a desired position through the optical fiber.
2. Description of the Related Art
A conventional light source apparatus is arranged such that as illustrated in FIG. 1, light emitted from a light source L is reflected by a spheroidal mirror M to be condensed on an end surface (light-receiving surface) of an optical fiber F so as to be led through the optical fiber F to a desired position. That is, this convention light source apparatus is of a type that the light from one light source is condensed on one optical fiber. According to this conventional light source apparatus, of the light incident on the end surface of the optical fiber F, the light whose incident angle .alpha. is above about 30 degrees cannot passes through the optical fiber F because total reflection within the optical fiber F of this light does not occur. Particularly, when the light source L has a width indicated by character d, the focal point is not determined to, thereby deteriorating the efficiency of light condensation. Accordingly, in the conventional light source apparatus, the limit of the efficiency of light condensation is about 42% in the case of a point light source and about 15% in the case of a light source having the width d of 3 mm. One possible solution is to dispose a concave reflection mirror in opposed relation to the spheroidal mirror M to improve the efficiency of the light condensation. However, difficulty is encountered to sufficiently improve the efficiency of the light condensation through the provision of the concave reflection mirror concurrently with providing more than two illumination sources.